The resort and gift shop trades are continually seeking relatively small, imaginative and reasonably priced articles for presentation to the consumer public. Criteria for acceptance of such articles by the public vary somewhat, however, where an inherent quality of craftsmanship is exhibited in combination with relatively low cost, the articles tend to receive public acceptance. A combination of a readily apparent higher quality of craftsmanship with the noted reasonable or lower cost criterion often becomes difficult to realize.
Particularly with the rise in popularity of inexpensive "paperback books" a consumer interest has arisen in ornamental and yet practical book covers fashioned of a cloth carrying some ornamental design or aspect. Such covers may incorporate handles for facile carrying purposes as well as integrally attached bookmarks. Until the introduction of the present invention, however, book cover and carrying articles have exhibited crude fabrication techniques, not representative of desirable high quality craftsmanship, but lower cost, or have been formed of expensive, more rigid materials such as leather and/or provided in rather complex multifunctional combinations. Representative of such articles, for example, are those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,136,598; 1,492,677; 2,422,235; and 2,926,932.